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Bay area vocalist Tony Adamo garnished a five star rating from Smoothjazz.com for his latest release, "Straight Up Deal." However, there's a lot more to the smooth jazz sound found on this recording than what they would have you believe. Tony Adamo, equipped with a deep baritone voice, belts out some real gyrating funk, R&B and soulful jazz tunes on this fourteen piece CD, which also includes a selection of straight ahead beautiful contemporary jazz vocals.

Adamo records the album with nineteen players among them, funk bassist Paul Jackson, saxophone great Ernie Watts and trumpeter Eddie Henderson. He also enlists the help of The Tower of Power Horns which appear on five tracks.

As I previously alluded to, the music is quite varied with three of the first four tracks firmly grounded in the funk genre ("No Strings," "Passport," and "Up In It"). Ernie Watts showcases his sax on the R&B-shaded "In The Winelight," while Adamo gets jazzy on the first straight jazz number in "Milestones," with the trumpet voice of Eddie Henderson setting the pace.

Tunes like "Autumn Leaves," "Wouldn't You," "Stolen Moments," and "Speak Low" fall in the smooth jazz side of the music where Adamo shines singing beautiful lyrics from some great standards. One of my favorite numbers is the spunky and lively "Lolita" featuring the Tower of Power Horns.

"Straight Up Deal" reveals the vocal talents of a superior singer who is able to convey the essence of different musical styles with ease and grace. An album that will obviously appeal to a broad audience considering the varied selection of music on this disc. I enjoyed the album; it was truly a "Straight Up Deal" from Tony Adamo.